System for producing a vapor by a liquefied gas.



J. B. FOURNIER.

SYSTEM Fon PRoDUoING A VAPOR BY A LIQUBHBD GAS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. B, 1904.

Patented Mar. 16, 1909 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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` J.. B. FOURNIER. SYSTEM FOR'PRODUGING A VAPOR BY A LIQUEHED GAS. APPLICATION FILED APB.. 8', 1904.

915,583, Patented Mar. 16, 1909.

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JOSEPH BARBE FOURNIER, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

No. classe.`

Speccation of Letters Patent,

Patented March 16, 1909.

Application led April 8, 1904. Serial No. 202,255.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn Banen Foun- Ninn, assistant in the Sarbonne, a citizen of the French Republic, residing in Paris, France, have invented a certain new and useful System for Producing Vapor by a Liqueiied Gas, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, and for which l have applied for Letters Patent in France, dated April 11, 1903.

This invention relates to an apparatus for producing and utilizing the vapor from liquelied gas such as ammonia or methylamin.

lt consists essentially of two inclosed vessels, one of which contains the liquid to be vaporized and the other forms the evaporator properly speaking, and which are put in communication by means of a distributing apparatus which enables the following effects to be obtained. (l) Automatic feed to the evaporator resulting from the pressure therein. (2) Maintaining the available working pressure in the evaporator substantially constant at any desired height whatever be the pressure and the temperature in the inclosed vessel containing` the liquid to be vaporized. (3) Variation as desired of thepressure in the evaporator proper and consequently on the motor utilizing the fluid supplied by the arrangement. (4) ln the case of the use oi ammonia gas or methylamin which after expansion are dissolved in or absorbed by water or other substance in the exhaust chamber, means for compensating the counter-pressure exerted on the engine piston by the pressure in the exhaust chamber proportionally as the ammoniacal or other solution therein becomes enriched. (5) Very rapid production, practically instantaneous, of an increase of pressure in the evaporator and consequently on the piston of the engine at the moment of starting or of other resistance to be overcome. (6) Production of superheated vapor,

l. will assume for the description of the invention that the liquid employed is liquefied ammonia gas or methylamin and that the vapor of this liquid after being expanded in the engine, dissolves in a quantity of water which comes into contact with the group or cluster of vaporizing tubes.

rlhe annexed drawings represent diagrammatically the apparatus for carrying out the invention.

Figure l is a View of the whole in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a detail view relative to a water-injector oi special construction. Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically the installation of an engine driven by the vapor furnished by the arrangement which is the subject of this invention. Figs. e and are views showing different positions of the double piston.

A is the inclosed vessel containing the liquid to be vaporized for instance liqueiied ammonia gas or methylamin, this vessel being formed of a receiver which may be placed in a second casing so as to form a water jacket or a heating jacket.

B is the set of tubes of any convenient type in which the vaporization ci' the liquefied gas delivered from the reservoir A is effected, the tube or tubes of this set communicating with two collectors l) t. rPhe liquid can pass down from the receiver A into the tubes B passing through a distributer constructed in the following manner. prises a cylinder Ein which lare located two pistons C and D Jfast to a rod J; this cylinder E communicates with' the reservoir A through a cock F andy with one end of the vaporizing tubes through a second cock G. At the lower end of the cylinder E is a plug H forming a small cylinder in which can slide a small piston l which makes contact with the lower face of the piston C; this small cylinder l communicates by means of a pipe 7L with the end t of the tubes B 'so` that it is subject to the pressure of the gas formed in the evaporator. A spring K acts upon the face of the piston D which spring bears against a head L which can be displaced in the cylinder E and this enables the pressure of the spring to be adjusted; the head L is operated by means of a rod M projecting externally, rlhe position of the rod ld and consequently that of the head L is controlled by a lever i) moving around and engaging a sector Por by any other suitable arrangement. ln order to insure the tightness of the apparatus the rod M is passed through a tube N having intermediate rings, sleeves or segments n. To avoid the inconveniences oi a possible leak, between two of the rings n is provided a space which by means of a tube p communicates with the exhaust pipe of the engine so that if a leak does occur this small quantity of gas does not escape through the joint of the rod M, in order to leave this space free a small spring p is placed between two adjacent ringsi; The stroke of the double piston C l) This apparatus coinn is limited by a stop Q. The connections between the inclosed reservoir A and the evaporator-vessel B being thus made, the'liquid can only pass from the first vto the latter, the valves E and G being open, when the double piston C D is in a suitable position." YJhile the latter is in the position shown in the drawing, the liquid from the reservoir A iills the annular space j surroiuiding the rod J which connects together the two pistons C D; by the tube 71, the pressure in the interior ot' the tubular cluster acts upon the small piston I and is transmitted to the double piston C D so that this latter is balanced between the force oi" this pressure and that of the spring K acting in the opposite direction. Ii in consequence of a shortage of' liquid the pressure should fall in the cluster of tubes B and therefore diminish upon the little piston I, the jforce exerted by the little piston I upon the double piston C D diminishes, and the latter descends carrying with it the mass of liquid trapped in the annular space this liquid is diverted into the evaporator B w ien the lower part of this annular space y' faces the opening of the cock G whence it passes into the tube-cluster B and there evaporates. The vapor thus produced reaches the col lector b and enters the pipe B whence it passes to the motor. It by reason of too great introduction oi liquid, the pressure becomes too high in the tube cluster, the small piston I pushes bach the double piston C D acting as a valve which rises and the annular space j is iilled wit-h a fresh supply of liquid which will be again introduced into the evaporator when the pressure in the latter diminishes sui'lic-iently to allow the descent of the double-piston C D. The movement of this double piston C D is thus dependent on the variations ot pressure. The pressure within the evaporator, and thus upon the piston of the driving engine, is by' this niovement of the piston C D kept practically constant at a height controlled by the position of the lever C. The production ofthe results (l) and (2) is then proved as well as the results (3) and (5). The pressure can be brought to any desired degree whatever by acting on the spring K so as to increase its force on the piston-valve C D the latter then falls and diverts liquid into the tube-cluster, by raising the lever C and again lowering it, a fresh quantity of liquid is passed into the evaporator and this is repeated until the pressure has attained the desired extent.

By fixing the lever O on the sector P, any desired pressure is obtained in the evaporator and this will automatically be maintained practically constant by the working of the piston I on the piston -valve c CD.' Lastly the results (4) and (6) are also evident, regard being had to the following features, result (6) concerning more especially ammonia and methylamin. It is well l known that these gases when dissolved in water generate heat and that the quantity of gas that can be dissolved in a given mass of water is, all vother vthings being equal, on the one hand inversely proportional to the degree ot'actual saturation of the aminoniaeal solution, on the other hand directly proportional to the pressure which the gas exerts on the liquid. It then7 the motor which the ammonia is to drive,l is inclosed in a receiver or exhaust chamber into which the motor discharges the ammoniacal vapor after its release, and into which water is injected, the vapor can only dissolve in this water if the pressure increases continually in proportion as the solution becomes enriched by ammonia; `this continual increase of pressure in the exhaustechamber produces on the piston of the engine, through the open exhaust-valve the eiiect ot' a continuous backpressure which at each monient diminishes the useful ei'lort of the piston. Consequently if as has been shown, the pressure in the evaporator is maintained by the action of the valve C-D practically constant and equal to P and if p designates the eounter-pressin'e at the actual instant, the eiliective pressure IJ-p on the piston of the engine varies since p increases. In order that this dill terence may remain constant whatever be the degree of saturation of the solution in the exhaust-chamber, the increase ot pressure per unit of surface, on the one hand in the exhaust chamber and on the other hand in the evaporator, should be the same at each instant. In practice the apparatus realizes this condition in the following` manner: The surface of the cross-section of the rod M is equal to that oi the small piston I; it sui'lices to put the exhaust chamber of the motor in communication as through the pipe Y with a cylinder R in which the rod M acts as a plunger piston which adds its pressure to that of the spring K to force the valve C-D down, whereby a greater quantity of liquid is admitted and the desired compression is obtained.

The receiver A which contains the liquid to be evaporated may be, in the particular oase of ammonia or of methylamin, surrounded by a second jacket a containing water. It is furnished with one or more safetyvalves S the'lifting of which takes place into a box s provided with a tube s conveying the gas to the exhaust-chamber; this valve S drawsr orf the gas by means off the pipet from the upper part ot the receiver A. A pipe a connects the upper part of the receiver Amwith the portion of the cylinder E below the piston C so that any liquid which might 'enter' this receiver A.

The cluster of tubesforming the evaporatormay be of any suitable construction. In the particular case of ammonia and of space can return to the" methylamin this tube cluster is inclosed in a receiver B7' filled with water as shown in the drawing; this receiver' B2 receives the warm water coming` from the exhaust chamber in which the gas is dissolved after its expansion in the engine; this water circulated by a special pump is led by the pipe T into the receiver` B2 containing the cluster of tubes; it causes the evaporation and superheating of the liquefied gas by heating the tube-cluster and leaves by the pipe T whence it is passed to a closed vessel wherein it is cooled by being mixed with a greater quantity of water. The water from this last vessel feeds the exhaust chamber; it is supplied by means of a second pump which passes it to an injector which distributes the water in the exhaust chamber; this injector may be constructed as indicated in Fig. 2. This device is composed of a cylinder U which communicates by its open end u with the pipe that conveys the water from the above mentioned closed vessel; in this cylinder U is a small piston V which a spring o tends to press against the end u; on its circumference the cylinder U is pierced with numerous openings u a communicating with as many small tubes u? u2 by which the water is distributed as spray in the receiver in which is discharged the exhaust vapor; when the water is forced by the pump into this cylinder U, this liquid finding no exit pushes back the piston V which compresses the spring 'u and the water escapes as spray around the cylinder of the motor and easily dissolves the vapor which the engine discharges into its exhaustreceiver. lf the quantity of water circulated by the pump increases so that the fist orifice/a is not sufficient for its exit, the piston V moves farther and successively uncovers the orifices of different tubes until a sufficient number of tubes are open. The condensed exhaust gases returned with the water tothe open receiver N are permitted to evaporate.

Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically the installation of an engine driven by a vapor generator such as has been described. is the liqueiied-gas reservoir, B the tube-nest evaporator; E is the distributer of liquid in this tube-cluster; X is the motor driven by the vapor produced by the generator; :c is.. the receiver in which the engine-cylinder is placed; U is the ivateisprayer in this receiver; Y is the pump which draws water from the receiver and passes it into the vessel B2 in which the evaporating-coil is submerged; rif is the receiver to which passes the water leaving the said vessel B2 in order to be diluted when desired by water entering at an oriiice w and coming from any source \=.f'hatever; Z is the pump which distributes the water in the receiverlfi'V and drives it to the injector U. lt is to be understood that this installation is given only` by way of example and that the invention is not limited thereto, the principal character of the latter relating to the system of production of vapor which allows to be fuliilled the different conditions laid down.

Although the description of thel system has been given'with consideration of the use of a liquefied gas, the system could also be used for the evaporation of any liquid such for instance as water, the evaporator being then a boiler of any suitable type.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as such and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An apparatus for producing vapor from liquefied gases, as for instance ammonia or methylamin, having a reservoir for liquefied gas, a vaporizer constituting a temperature exchanger, a communication between the two, an automatic distributer arranged therein, and consisting of a piston valve one face of which is subjected to pressure from the vaporizer, and the other to the pressure of a controlled spring.

2. An apparatus for producing vapor from liqueiied gas, having a reservoir for liquefied gas, a vaporizer constituting a temperature exchanger, a communication between the two, an automatic distributer arranged therein consisting of a piston valve, one face of which is subjected to pressure from the vaporizer through a plunger piston and the other face subjected to the pressure of a controlled spring, and the pressure of the exhaust chamber of the motor driven by the vapors.

3. In apparatus for producing vapor from liquefied gas, a reservoir for the liquefied gas, a vaporizer communicating therewitln and an interposed valve between said reservoir and vaporizer, said valve comprising a double headed piston sliding Within a cham ber and arranged to close the port into the reservoir and open the port into the vapo- 'rizer when in one position and vice versa when in another position, whereby the liquid received between the two heads of the piston valve when the reservoir port is open is discharged into the evaporator when the latters port is open, in combination with mechanical means tending to force said valve into the position where the evaporator port is open, and means for subjecting the valve to pressure from the evaporator tending to force the same in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

4. ln apparatus for producing vapor from liquefied gas, a reservoir for the liquefied gas, a vaporizer communicating therewith, and an interposed valve between said reservoir and vaporizer, said valve comprising a double headed piston sliding within a chamber and arranged to close the port into the reservoir and open the port into the vapo rizer when in one position and vice versa when in another position, whereby the liqnid received between the tivo heads ofthe piston valve when the reservoir port is open discharged into the evaporator when the lat- 5 ters lport is open, a connection from said Vapolzer to the motor and an'inclosed eX- haust chamber in Which the vapors are oondensed, and means for subjecting one side of said piston valve to pressurefroni the evap- I l0 orator and the other` side to pressure from ,I

the exhaust chamber, substantially as and for thetpurpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciication, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JGSEPH BABE FOUR-NBER.

'Vitnesses GSTAVE DUMONT, HANSON C. COKE. 

